Beyond the Horizon
by MagikCat
Summary: During the darkest time of their seventh year, six Hufflepuffs find hope.


_**AN:**__ Truly, there aren't enough Hufflepuff stories, so I was more than happy to write on behalf of the noble house of the black and yellow for the _ _**hogwarts_houses**__ fest. (However, this is ironic when it turned out I was in Gryffindor. :P) Go check it out if you haven't-there are some awesome fics! Title inspired by a quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt:_ "We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon." _Thank you to my betas, _ _**cibjasfad**__ and _ _**leigh_adams**__! You both rock!_

"Ow!"

"Stop complaining and hold still, you big ninny!"

"Don't hold on it so tight, then!"

"I'm not!"

"Will you two stop _bickering_?"

Hannah rolled her eyes. "I can't help it if he's a big baby, Sue," she said. Nonetheless, she loosed her grip on Ernie's forearm slightly.

Turning away from her housemates, Susan dabbed some disinfectant on Wayne's cheek. He flinched, but unlike his dormmate, he made no complaint. Not that it surprised her anymore. Wayne never talked about what the Carrows had done that had horrified him so badly during his last detention. In fact, he hadn't said anything at all for more than a month.

"What were you prats thinking, sneaking alone at night?" Zach shot Megan a rather cross glare. "If you had been caught—"

"But we weren't," Megan retorted defensively, crossing her arms.

"Barely," Susan muttered.

Megan ignored her. "And if Ernie hadn't tripped down the stairs you wouldn't have even known we were gone."

"You weren't going to tell us!" Hannah cried angrily.

Ernie fidgeted, giving Megan an irritable look. "Of course we would!"

But Susan didn't believe him and apparently, neither did his best friend. She looked beside herself with rage. "I have half a mind to not fix this wrist at all!" she snapped. "Neville said to stop pulling stunts like this—when he learns about this, you won't hear the end of it!"

"Hannah..." Ernie pleaded. "You're right. It was stupid."

"But after what happened to Michael, someone had to show the Carrows they hadn't scared everyone," Megan finished. "And if you don't fix that wrist, they'll suspect it was us. You know that."

Hannah sighed and drew her wand. "_Espisky_!"

There was a soft _crack_, and Ernie turned his wrist over. "Thanks," he said gratefully.

"Don't expect me to do the same thing next time," Hannah warned.

Susan saw that the scratch on Wayne's cheek had all but disappeared. "There." She turned to the other two. "Neville will still have your heads in the morning, though."

"Oh, he'll lecture us a bit, because he has to," Megan said dismissively, "but I think a part of him will understand. He's as tired of waiting for Potter as the rest of us. He's just better at hiding it." She let out a frustrated sigh. "It's bloody April—what's taking him so long?"

Zach shrugged. "He's just one person missing out of thousand, isn't he?"

They were silent for a moment, and Susan couldn't help her mind drifting to Justin. Their fledgling relationship had been put on hold when he escaped to France, and without any contact since, she could only hope that he was one of the few who were safe.

"Do you ever…think about what you want do after this war is over?" Hannah said to no one in particular. No one answered, as though afraid saying anything remotely hopeful out loud might get them hexed.

Hannah waited for a reply, and then went on. "I'm going to work at the Leaky Cauldron – maybe own it someday."

"You never told me that," Susan said, surprised. With her skills in Herbology, Susan had been sure that Hannah would own her own plant nursery someday.

Even Ernie looked perplexed. "You want to be a barmaid? Why?"

"Because… Tom has been a friend of the family for ages. He doesn't have any children of his own, so he was going to leave it to Mum. She didn't want Tom dead, of course, but she always talked about it. Now that she's gone.…" Hannah swallowed, the thought of her mother bringing a lump to her throat, before she pushed on. "I want to continue the dream she never had. I think I could do some good there."

The silence that followed this was less awkward as Hannah's admission seemed to float among them. They had spent this year preparing for a battle that was sure to come – contemplating a time afterwards had seemed naïve in a way. Now, it was as though the simplicity and beauty of such a desire allowed them, for the first time in several months, to think about a time after school ended.

"I…." Ernie looked away from the tapestry that hung between their beds where a window should be. "I'd like to fix things up with my dad. Things haven't been the same between us since Mum disappeared. I suppose I've blamed him for her being gone. It seems unfair and petty now."

Zach cocked his head slightly at him. "How long has your mum been missing?"

"Five years now," Ernie replied, and though his eyes looked sad, the rest of him held steady. "Dad said she went to get eggs at the market, and she never came back. The police suspect she ran away with a lover. I don't think so now, but for a long time I thought she left to get away from him. He's hard to get along with on a good day. But then, most of my family is that way."

"Don't you ever think about looking for her?" Zach asked him.

Ernie shrugged. "Sometimes. But I think a part of me doesn't want to know."

"My older brother disappeared last year," Zach said quietly. "Most likely he's dead. My mum would have died of heartbreak if it hadn't been for my sisters. When this war's over, I'm going to find out what happened to him. I think it would give my parents some peace."

"He was in the M. L. E. squad, wasn't he?" Megan asked.

Zach nodded. "Happiest day of his life, the day he got his acceptance letter."

"So why aren't you in the DA?" Ernie demanded, crossing his large arms.

Susan sighed. The two of them had this discussion before, and always ended with shouting, or on one occasion, a bloody nose.

Zach's face darkened. "If Potter's smart he won't ever show his face again, and you're all fools for thinking otherwise. I'm not staying out of it because I want to save my own skin. I have younger siblings to protect. They're my family. I can't just abandon them."

"Then aren't they worth fighting for?" Ernie asked, and his repulsion was clear.

"I'd do it for them in a heartbeat – but not because Potter wants us to. Anyway, even if he gets here, we have about as much chance at winning as the Muggles do. I won't die and leave my family to You-Know-Who's mercy."

Ernie looked about ready to argue again, so Susan quickly cut in. "I'll tell you what I'm going to do, if you won't laugh."

Hannah looked relieved. "What?"

Everyone stared her, and for a moment she thought about backing out. It was a silly dream, and she knew it. However, she also didn't want the boys to have to explain to Professor Sprout how blood got in the carpet if the boys continued to quarrel. "I'm going to be an Auror," she said finally.

No one said anything, and Susan could see their surprise and doubt. She couldn't blame them—she was a small, rather wispy thing who loved shopping in the city above doing anything else. She was not the image of the imposing Auror found in the recruitment brochure.

Megan shook her head. "I don't think you'd be approved in the physical, Sue."

"My father says that half of the Aurors have been locked up, forced into retirement, or killed," she said. "They're going to need new blood when this is over. They'll take me if they're desperate."

"Why an Auror?" Zach asked.

"Because all my life, I've been sitting back and letting things happen to me. This year…working with Dumbledore's Army, it showed me that I don't want to be that way anymore. I'm going to keep fighting, and make sure the bad guys don't hurt anyone else I love."

She said this matter-of-factly, but the anger she kept hidden was burning inside her. She didn't show this side to anyone, not even to Justin when he had been here. She hated the monsters that had taken so much away from her, from Hannah, hell, even from Zach, as much as he annoyed her. They deserved to be tracked and caught like animals. Her newly discovered skill on offensive spells this year had only solidified her desire.

"Well, I'm afraid what I want to do is not nearly as noble," Megan admitted, "but it is personal."

"Those are the best kind," Hannah said with a bit of a laugh. "What is it?"

"There is an old farmhouse near the village I live in. It's been empty for years, but it's been for sale for just as long." She smiled, as though the memory was as sweet as a Sugar Quill. "I've been watching my dad do his carpentry forever. I want to fix it up. Turn it into something exquisite."

Susan couldn't help her curiosity. "What does it look like?" she asked.

"Oh, you know – two stories, brick walls, vines everywhere, an empty pond, an overgrown back garden as big as the common room. It's beautiful. And it'll be even more so when I get my hands on it. If it takes years, I'll have it looking perfect."

"It sounds lovely, Megan," said Hannah.

"What about you, mate?" Ernie turned to Wayne, who had been quietly sitting cross-legged on his bed. "What are you going to do?"

Wayne stared into his hands, saying nothing for so long that Susan thought he was ignoring them. When he looked up, he seemed indecisive and maybe a bit pained — and then he slipped a hand in the back pocket of his pajamas, pulling out a rather wrinkled old photograph. He passed it to Hannah, who was closest, and she stared at it curiously. "Wayne, who's this?"

"Linette," Wayne answered softly. His voice was harsh from nonuse, but the pain and longing was clear. "She's a Muggle from my village I've been seeing since I was fifteen. I want to work hard and get money so I can marry her."

Hannah passed the picture to Susan. It was a dark-haired girl — no more than sixteen — laughing as she sat on an old brick wall. Though the photo was still, she saw unmistakable joy and energy. "She's beautiful," Susan told him, trying not to sound surprised. So _that's_ why Wayne had never seemed interested in any of the girls at Hogwarts – he had one back home. She always assumed he was gay.

"Let me see." Megan reached over and snatched the picture from her hand. She stared at it critically, and then tossed it back at him. "It doesn't even _move_?" she demanded, a bit haughtily. Susan fought back her amusement. It had been rather discouraging for Megan when she believed the one boy she fancied might prefer wizards—she must be rather annoyed now.

Wayne shrugged and put the picture back in his pocket. It seemed he was back to not talking anymore.

Ernie let out a chuckle. "You know, people always assume Gryffindors are the ones to dream big—but I think we Puffs do pretty decent in that department as well."

"Gryffindors get credit for a lot of things," Susan agreed.

Suddenly, there was a terrified yell down the tunnel, and the group jumped. "What's that?" Susan demanded.

Ernie sighed as he got to his feet. "That'll be Bernie Zeller. He's been having nightmares since Michael…since Michael got punished. I should check on him." With that, he sneaked out the dormitory.

The reality set back in with a great _thump_. Susan looked at her friends sadly. "We should head to bed, in case the Carrows decide to check in."

"See you at breakfast," Zach murmured. Wayne nodded.

Hannah, Megan and Susan walked quickly but quietly back to their dormitory. Sally-Anne was asleep, and they tried not to wake her as they slipped into bed.

Susan lay there for a few minutes, and it didn't take long for Megan's snores to join Sally's heavy breathing.

"Hannah?" she whispered.

She heard her turn over in the bed. "Hmm?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For helping us remember who we're fighting for."


End file.
